


Show Them

by DearLittleRobin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Draco Malfoy-centric, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Good Draco Malfoy, Hurt/Comfort, I don't really know how to explain, M/M, Multi, Secret Relationship, Slytherins Being Slytherins, he's not as much as a jerk but he really wants to win at everything so he may sound very rude, i'm just tagging as i go along, kind of, some of this tags will only make sense in future chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-06-18 13:59:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15487383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DearLittleRobin/pseuds/DearLittleRobin
Summary: “Don’t tell people you are better than them” Lucius said to his son, expression and tone serious so to emphasize how important those words were “Show them”AkaThe Malfoy’s sense of honor and pride is a bit different and it changes everything.Also, Harry and Draco never met at Madam Malkin’s.That’s all you need to know for now.





	1. Year One

**Author's Note:**

> if i have an idea i just have to write it down regardless of the fact that i have a million unfinished works. oh well.

“I heard that Harry Potter is going to school with us” Pansy Parkinson said aloud, trying (and failing, if Draco was being honest) to sound uninterested. “He’s probably somewhere on this train right now”

“Perhaps we should go talk to him?” Blaise Zabini suggested and although he managed not to fail as much as Pansy did his voice still betrayed the bored demeanor he was trying to portray.

Theodore Nott shrugged at the idea while Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe just looked at Draco, waiting for his input on the matter. Draco rolled his eyes.

“Why bother?” The blond boy told his friends. “He’s totally going to be a Gryffindor”

“He’s incredibly famous, though” Pansy argued “Wouldn’t it be beneficial for us to have him as an acquaintance?”

“I refuse to be one more pathetic fan begging for Potter’s attention, Pansy” Draco turned his head slightly and looked directly into the girl’s eyes “But you can do whatever you want.”

Pansy stayed quiet after that and Draco smiled to himself. Harry Potter was not mentioned again during the rest of the trip.

The boy only became once again a topic of discussion when his name was shouted in the Grand Hall, the Sorting Hat waiting for him. As the small kid with messy dark hair and big glasses slowly walked towards McGonagall, whispers echoed in the hall coming from every table. Harry was clearly uncomfortable with the attention, Draco could tell, and, for a moment, the newly made Slytherin almost pitied the kid. Almost being the key word.

Not much long after the hat was placed on Harry Potter’s head it shouted:

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Draco smirked and playfully elbowed Pansy from where he sat next to her.

“Told you so” He said.

“Whatever” The girl huffed. “You can’t blame me for being curious”

And she was right, he really couldn’t. Draco would never admit it, but he was also quite intrigued with Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the supposed hero of the wizard world. There was just something about Harry that made Draco want nothing more than to one-up the boy in literally everything.

Draco Malfoy, better than even Harry Potter.

Yeah, Draco liked the sound of that.

When the exams started though, Draco learned Harry wasn’t the one he was truly competing against.

“Who the fuck is Hermione Granger and why she’s almost as good as me?” He complained out loud as he dramatically entered the boy’s dormitory. Blaise, who has been on his bed calmly reading a book, gave his friend an amused look, which only made Draco angrier. “What do you know that I don’t?”

“Oh, nothing much” Blaise teased. “Just that Hermione Grange is a Gryffindor” He smiled wickedly at Draco. “And a muggle-born”

Draco almost screamed. Blaise just laughed.

“I’m not letting a stupid muggle-born Gryffindor one-up me.” Draco grumbled as he opened his books on his bed “No way in hell”

“You sure you shouldn’t’ve been sorted into Ravenclaw, Malfoy?” Blaise teased him again.

“I’ll fucking kill you, Zabini”

“My, my. Someone’s angry today.”

Draco ignored him, turning all his attention to the books around him. Hermione bloody Granger would not get better grades than him. He was a Malfoy and Malfoys were nothing but the best.

“Show them you’re the best” Draco muttered to himself like a mantra as read and reread every single note he took during every class. “Show them”

“Maybe you should slow down on the studies, mate” Theo Nott told him one day, looking at the blonde’s uncharmed face after a particularly rough study night. “You look like shit”

“Maybe you should study more” Draco retorted, muttering a spell his mother taught him on the day before he went to Hogwarts. Immediately, the dark circles under his eyes disappeared. “I’ve got us at least fifty points yesterday by answering questions. What have you done?”

Theo just rolled his eyes.

“You do know Slytherin has won the House Cup without you, right?”

“Nothing bad in helping. Again, what have you done?”

This time, Theo groaned.

“For Salazar’s sake, you are insufferable when you don’t have eight hours of sleep. Sorry for caring, keep killing yourself.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Theodore.”

“Am I really the Dramatic one, Draco?”

“Shut up”

And ok, maybe Theodore had a point. Maybe Draco should slow down and sleep more, but it wasn’t like the situation was truly that bad. And! Harry bloody Potter and his stupid Gryffindor friends managed to put Gryffindor in first place for a while after fighting against the troll teachers strictly told them all not to fight. If Draco had known he could win so many points by going against direct orders and fighting the stupid troll he too would have gone after it (ok, maybe he wouldn’t because trolls were kind of scary, but in his head he totally would so let him live!)

“It’ll pay off” He told himself “I’ll show them I’m the best”

And things were really going Draco’s way until they weren’t anymore and the old bastard Hogwarts put as a Headmaster gave Gryffindor enough points to not only surpass Slytherin, but to win the House Cup with points to spare. If that wasn’t humiliating enough, Dumbledore gave Longbottom, the worst wizard Draco had ever seen, points for being stupidly pathetic. Draco honestly wanted to die.

“Time to change the decoration!” The old man exclaimed excitedly, and the Gryffindor table cheered. Draco too wanted to scream, but purely out of frustration.

How dare he.

Draco’s eyes searched the Gryffindor table until they fell on the culprit. The boy Draco chose to ignore during the whole year, but that still somehow managed to screw up everything Draco worked so hard for.

Harry Potter.

Draco glared at the boy’s smiling face.

Next year, he thought to himself.


	2. Year Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never written so much in so little time jfc  
> As i said, this chapter is waaaaaaaaay bigger than the last one. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Lucius Malfoy was a respectable man with a darker past than most. However, there wasn’t a day that passed by without Lucius showing the world they had made the right choice in not locking him away in Azkaban.

_“Assuming your mistakes may seem difficult, Draco” Lucius had told his son one day “But it is something you must do to become the best version of yourself”_

Draco, since he was young, knew about his father’s past. He wasn’t ashamed of it, not really, because he also knew of his father’s present.  Draco was proud to say he shared his blood with Lucius Malfoy, no matter what anyone said.

It was this love and respect he had for the man that put Draco in his father’s office, without the man’s knowledge, two days before he had to return to Hogwarts. The young Malfoy wasn’t really sure about what he wanted to find there, he just knew that someone as successful as his father _must_ have something that helps him be, well, successful. Not that Draco thinks his father cheats! But well, maybe there was a book with some tips or something.

Draco’s first idea was to directly ask his father about it, but, after seeing the look of disappointment in the man’s face when his report card revealed that a Gryffindor muggle-born had surpassed him in some subjects, the boy decided he needed to solve his own problems, not cry for daddy to solve it for him. Lucius would be more of a, hm, indirect help.

“Come on” Draco muttered to himself, shuffling through the books in the big, old shelves “There must be something around here…”

After at least half an hour of looking for something not even he knew exactly what was, Draco started to feel like maybe his mission would fail. Maybe what he wanted didn’t exist. Maybe his father was just super good at everything and Draco should just put in more effort to be like that.

Draco sighed, putting another book back in the shelve he got it from. Not many were left to look at. Without much hope, Draco reached for a small book with a black cover, hidden between two larger books in a far corner of the office. Draco stared at it with furrowed eyebrows. That looked like…a diary?

“Draco? Are you in my office?” Lucius voice, loud and clear, definitely getting closer.

Shit.

Putting no second thought into it, Draco shoved the book in his waistband where it could be successfully covered by his sweater. He probably wouldn’t have the chance to look at it if he left it there, since he would soon return to school.

“Yes, father. I was looking for you” Draco lied.

The tall figure of Lucius Malfoy appeared at the door, his eyes searching the room for anything out of place. Draco had been very careful, always putting things back perfectly, so he knew his father wouldn’t find any incriminating evidence. Well, unless he looked at the shelve Draco had just stol-, er, borrowed the black book from, something he couldn’t do from where he now stood.

“Well” Satisfied with his inspection, Lucius turned to his son “I’m here now, what do you need?”

“Oh” Think quickly! “ I was wondering if you would like to see me flying for a bit? I’ll be able to try out for the Quidditch team this year and would love to hear your input on my performance”

“Hm” Lucius looked up, considering Draco’s words “Well, I suppose it’ll be fine. Dinner won’t be for at least two more hours.”

“Great!” Draco smiled, glad he had come up with a good excuse “I’ll go change and we can meet downstairs”

“Shouldn’t you be ready if your intentions were to ask me to tag along?” Lucius questioned.

“Ah, father, I must admit I wasn’t really sure if you would accept the invitation and without you there, going flying right now would not be very, ah, useful.”

“ I see.” Lucius didn’t seem convinced, but Draco could see in his eyes that the man would let that slide “Go change then”

Draco didn’t waste a second. Once in his room, he carefully tucked the book in the trunk he planned to take to Hogwarts and changed as quickly as possible. His father waited for him with a small smile in his face.

“Let’s see how Slytherin’s future best seeker is doing” The man said.

Hours later, after a good time with his dad in his broom and a delicious dinner, Draco was a bit too tired to have a good look in the book. On the next day, his mother prepared so many activities for them to do before his school started that, again, he wasn’t able to read anything. The small book just stayed hidden, only being taken out when Draco was already in the school, in his dormitory.

“Lumos” The blond boy whispered, the light that came out of his wand reflecting in the black cover.

The other boys were sleeping. Draco imagined it would be safer this way, he didn’t want anyone else to see whatever his father had written in the diary, (assuming it was really a diary, of course) With on hand he held his wand while with the other he opened the book.

 ** _Property of Tom Marvolo Riddle_** , black letters stared at him.

“Who the hell is Tom Riddle?” Draco muttered to himself as he flipped to the next page only to find nothing.

With furrowed eyebrows and with his wand now resting between his teeth (his mother would kill him if she saw that), Draco used both hands to quickly flip through the entirety of the diary. All blank. He did it again, slower this time. Maybe the diary had some kind of spell that prevented its contents from being seen by someone who wasn’t its owner, Draco thought. That or the Tom Riddle guy was just really boring.

“Maybe if I write in it…” Draco wondered out loud. If the pages were truly magical, then maybe something would happen?

Carefully putting the book on his bed, Draco leaned over to take a quill and some ink from his trunk. With all he needed in hand, he opened the book one more time and wrote in a corner of one of the pages in the middle.

_Draco._

Less than 5 seconds after his quill left the paper, the ink disappeared into the page.

“I knew it!” Draco whispered as loud as he could without waking the other boys.

And, although he rightly predicted the diary to have magical properties, he really did not expect it to answer him. That said, no one could really blame Draco for being surprised enough to jump a bit, spilling ink in his bed sheets. In any other occasion he would be cursing the entire world for making such mess, but, in that particular moment, Draco was too focused on the words the diary somehow _wrote back_.

 **_Hello, Draco._ ** **_I’m Tom Riddle._ **

“Ok” Draco blinked a few times. The words were still there. He rubbed his eyes. Still there. “Oh well”

With a quickly whispered Scourgify, Draco cleaned his sheets. He stared and the ink he still had and at the quill next to it. Then, he stared at he words in the diary. With a deep breath, Draco took the quill.

_Hello, Tom. You already know who I am, I suppose. May I ask what you are doing in this diary?_

**_This is my diary, if you haven’t noticed._ **

Draco rolled his eyes.

_I have owned notebooks before and I could not talk through any of them. How come you can?_

**_Magic._ **

This time, Draco let out a frustrated sig, his eyes rolling back so hard it almost hurt.

_If you wish to keep being difficult, this conversation will end here._

**_I apologize, Draco. It was not my intention to make you mad. Please tell me one thing, how did you get this diary?_ **

Draco considered lying. You never know if you can trust a mysterious diary after all. However, he did find the diary in his father’s office so if the man judged it trustworthy enough to have it in his possession, Draco guessed he could tell it the truth.

_Found it on my father’s office._

**_Is your father, by any chance, Lucius Malfoy?_ **

Draco almost dropped the ink in his sheets again.

_How do you know that?_

**_Your old man and I talk a lot. Well, at least we used to. I guess he grew tired of my company._ **

_Any reason you can think of as to why?_

**_No, not really. I mean, I guess having conversations with diaries is not anyone’s dream, is it? I do miss him, though. I like having someone to talk to._ **

Draco thought about his next words for a long time,

_Well, you can talk to me now._

That time, Riddle took a bit longer to answer and when he did, Draco felt a chill run down his spine. Draco, at that moment, didn’t understand why.

**_Thank you, Draco Malfoy._ **

It was the beginning.

After that, Draco kept talking to Riddle most days before bed. He would always wait for the other boys to be sleeping, not wanting anyone to find out about his friend. That diary belonged to the Malfoys and to the Malfoys only.

_I tried for the Quidditch team today._

**_How did it go?_ **

_Quite well, actually! I’m now Slytherin’s seeker._

**_Congratulations, Draco. I’m sure your father will be very proud of this accomplishment._ **

Lucius was, in fact, extremely pleased with the news and Draco felt all the happiness and pride he knew he deserved to feel. A few days later, however, Gryffindor also had a new seeker.

Harry Potter.

_He acts like he owns the place just because he survived the killing curse and defeated the Dark Lord. Like, sure, that’s a big deal and all, but he was baby! He probably didn’t even do anything!_

**_This Harry Potter boy seems interesting. Do tell me though, who is this Dark Lord you referred to?_ **

_You’ve never heard of the Dark Lord.?_

**_I’m afraid not. Can you tell me?_ **

_He is only the most powerful dark wizard ever. Was, I mean. Harry Potter defeated him._

**_Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord as a baby?_ **

_That’s what the story says, but I find it weird too. I’m sure there’s more to it._

**_Can you try to find me more information?_ **

_Well, I guess. Can’t promise you anything, though. I have a lot of exams to study for._

And that was the last conversation Riddle and Draco had for some time. Draco didn’t lie when he told the diary about the exams. He really needed to study. Study harder than he had ever studied before if he wanted to surpass Hermione Granger in all the subjects and survive having Gilderoy Lockhart as his DADA teacher. So, his crazy study hours and the addition of Quidditch practice to his routine, Tom Riddle started to be less and less important.

“He’s completely useless!” Draco complained one night when he and most of his friends were trying to study for DADA. “I cannot believe Dumbledore let that man be a teacher!”

“You have to admit he’s incredibly good looking, though” Pansy said, earning herself eye rolls from everyone around her.

“Only you would think about looks in a situation like this, Pansy” Theo said “He’s incompetent to do his job, our education should be your major concern”

“By Salazar, you are so boriiing.” Blaise complained, throwing his head back.

“You and Draco should compete to see who’s the most study driven one” Pansy teased.

“It’s clearly me” Draco deadpanned.

“Hey! I-” Theo stopped talking, thinking about his next words “You know what, you are right, it’s clearly you”

“You never stood a chance, Theo” Blaise told them “This guy studies even when we all go to sleep, it’s annoying”

“Shut up, Blaise” Draco playfully kicked the boy.

“I stand by what I said last year, Malfoy” Blaise laughed “You should have been in Ravenclaw”

“Fuck you, Zabini” Draco kicked the boy again, this time not so playfully “Besides, I’m not studying on those nights”

He regretted those words as soon as he said them, mentally kicking himself for letting that slip.

“Oh?” Pansy asked, very interested. Most likely happy to maybe have found more gossip material “And what are you doing then?”

“It’s a secret” Draco murmured. Blaise snorted at the words.

“Please don’t tell me you are touching yourself, Malfoy” He teased, earning a laugh from everyone but Draco.

“Haha, you are so funny, Zabini.” Draco grumbled. “I’m not you to be doing such things.”

“What are you doing then?” Theo questioned, his face showing genuine curiosity.

All three of his friends stared at him so Draco pondered his options: he could either lie or he could tell the truth. He felt strangely inclined to do the former. Something inside his being telling him no one should know about Riddle.

“I’m, well, I’m writing a diary” He told them. Not all the truth, but still not a lie.

Pansy and Blaise laughed. Theo just stared.

“I feel like you are not telling us everything, Draco” Theo said and Draco felt extremely uncomfortable under his inquiring gaze.

“Good thing no one asked you then” Draco snarled, getting up from where he sat in the Common Room. “I’m going to study in the dorm since we clearly are not going to do much progress here.”

“Are you really going to study or will you write on your diary, Malfoy?” Blaise mocked.

Draco just gave him the finger, ignoring the way Theodore was still looking at him. Once in his room, he closed his bed curtains harshly and opened the diary for the first time in days, his quill and ink ready.

_My friends are stupid and annoying._

**_Have you found anything else about Harry Potter’s encounter with the Dark Lord?_ **

Draco stopped, staring at the words. Did Riddle just…?

_Did you just ignore what I said?_

**_Well, pardon me for not really having much interest in your petty arguments with your friends._ **

Draco had to really control himself to not throw the diary at the nearest wall.

_Well, then excuse me for not caring for stupid Potter! Why do you care so much?_

The diary didn’t respond for some time, so Draco just angrily stared at it, hoping that the magic that made it possible for Riddle to answer him also made it so he could feel the boy’s glare.

 **_I apologize, Draco._ ** **_Please, do tell me about your friends and how annoying they are._ **

_Why do I sense sarcasm?_

**_I have no idea on what you are talking about._ **

_You know what? You are stupid and annoying._

Draco closed the diary before he could read Tom’s reply. After angrily throwing it inside his trunk and closing the trunk with all the strength he could muster ( The loud noise echoing in the dorm and waking up a confused Greg.) (Vincent just kept on sleeping, though), Draco hid under his covers, DADA work forgotten. For that night, he would just sleep as long as he could.

When Draco woke up in the next morning, he did not feel well rested. In fact, he felt more exhausted than when he went to sleep. Draco frowned. That was the most he had slept in days, how could he feel more tired?

“Someone seems sleepy” Blaise commented at breakfast “Did you stay up all night writing in your diary?”

“I gave up on that, actually” Draco mumbled tiredly “Turns out, diaries are arseholes”

“What?” Blaise asked, confused.

Only then did Draco realize what he had just said. Fuck.

“Shut up, Zabini” He grumbled “You’re making my head hurt”

“You are so weird, Malfoy” Blaise commented and turned back to his food.

“Are you alright though? You don’t look very good, Draco” Vincent, who was halfway through his third plate of food, asked.

Draco managed to give the boy what he imagined was a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, Vince. Just a bad night of sleep, nothing a good night can’t cure”

Vincent just nodded and, just like Blaise, turned back to his food. Draco just stared at his empty plate, not feeling hungry at all. Maybe he was getting sick or something. Huh, if got worse he should probably go talk to Madame Pompfrey.

“Just get better before practice today” Blaise told him and patted his back “Otherwise Flint will totally kill you”

Draco gulped. Flint totally would kill him indeed. He needed something to help him stay awake. Instantly, his mug was filled with blackish hot liquid, a smell Draco had never encountered before making its way inside his nostrils. He took the mug and took a tentative sip. The drink was a bit too bitter, but Draco could already feel himself waking up. Good. He drank the mug’s contents as quickly as he could and got up, ready to face the day.

Well, not really.

By the time his practice started, Draco was sleepy again. Being the stubborn boy he was though, he imagined he could just power through it like he powered through most things.

He realized he was wrong when he closed his eyes for a second while flying and, when he opened them again, there was no broom under him and his body was falling down at an alarming speed. Funniest thing about the whole ordeal was how Draco’s brain was so out of it he didn’t feel the fear he should have felt, as if possible death wasn’t something for one to worry about.

Ok, maybe he was exaggerating, he wasn’t that high up for the fall to kill him. He would most definitely be very hurt, though, which would not be good, but every injury should easily fixable. Maybe he should fall on his legs so he just breaks them? Should he turn his body into a standing position? Did that make sense? It kind of did, Draco thought to himself, he should try to do it. Draco proceed to try to turn his body, only to realize he was not falling anymore. Draco opened his eyes (Weird, he didn’t remember closing them)

Blaise was there, looking at him with big, worried eyes.

“Blaise?” Draco called, the other boy sighed in relief.

“He’s back” Blaise told the team, who Draco just now noticed was standing around him and Blaise. “ Do call Pomfrey, though”

“What happened?” Draco asked, his voice sounding weak to his ears.

“You did not get better before practice, that’s what happened.” Blaise answered and even though his voice was angry, Draco could feel the worry that was also there. “If you are feeling this bad you have to say something, Draco”

“I thought I was better” Draco answered honestly “I don’t know what happened. I fell, right?”

“And what a fall that was, mate” One of his teammates, Adrian Pucey, said. “One moment you are flying and in the next you are letting go of your broom. You are so lucky Zabini managed to catch you on time”

Draco turned to Blaise.

“You caught me?” Draco asked. Blaise rolled his eyes.

“Would you have preferred I let you become a Malfoy pancake?” He asked, slightly annoyed.

“No, of course not. Thank you for catching me” Draco tried to lift his hand to rub his eyes, but was stopped by a sharp pain “Ouch.”

 “You broke your arm, Draco.” Blaise rolled his eyes again “And I’m pretty sure I broke my foot. Just try not to move.”

“Oh, sorry.” Draco stared at the sky above him then, waiting for Pomfrey to arrive. He blinked a few times until his eyes gave up on opening again and he fell in a deep slumber.

When Draco woke up, he felt extremely well rested. But he was definitely not in his dorm. Or in the Quidditch field.

“Glad to see you awake, Mr. Malfoy” Madam Pomfrey said, his attention going to said woman “I was beginning to feel worried”

“I am quite alright now, Madam Pomfrey, thank you” Draco told her, his voice a bit rough because of sleep.

“That’s good, but you’ll still need to stay for a bit longer, just so I can make sure you are at your 100%” She handed him a cup “Drink this, it’ll make you throat feel better”

“Thank you” Draco took the cup and drank it silently. Madam Pomfrey watched him as he did it, nodding in approval. When he finished, he gave the cup back to her and she smiled.

“If you feel anything weird, please tell me.” She commanded  “If not, you can leave by dinner time”

“Understood. Thank you, Madam Pomfrey”

Again, the woman smiled and quickly left Draco alone. The blond boy let out a long sigh and let his body fall, hitting the pillow with a low thud. What the hell he would do for however long It take for lunch time to arrive was beyond him. The infirmary was quiet. Draco hated it.

“Are you also bored out of your mind?” A voice asked out of nowhere, coming from the bed next to him.

Draco didn’t turn to look at its owner before answering. He couldn’t quite place where he heard it before, but he could tell it was a boy who was speaking.

“Definitely” Draco answered “I’m almost wishing my condition worsened just so I could have something to do”

The boy laughed.

“A bit desperate, aren’t you?” He teased. “Can’t blame you though, this place is incredibly boring”

“What made you end up here?” Draco asked, still without turning his head.

“I thought could I do a Wronski Feint.” The boy sighed “Turns out I couldn’t”

Draco winced. He also had failed to do that move before. It had taken him a lot of broken noses to perfect it.

“Don’t blame yourself too much” He told the boy “It is a quite difficult move”

“Yeah, that’s what Wood said too.”

Draco is a second away from saying that the boy should listen to this Wood guys when he suddenly remembers who Wood is.

Gryffindor captain.

If the boy was talking to Wood and attempting to do a seeker move that could only mean…

Draco turned his head so quickly he almost hurt his neck. He was met with a pair of green eyes hidden behind glasses, messy black hair and a surprised expression.

“Oh…hi?” Harry bloody Potter said awkwardly now that they held visual contact.

Draco could not believe it. All that time he had been talking to Harry Potter, the one person in that entire school he wished to avoid more than anything. His luck could not possibly get worse.

“Hm, you, uh, are you alright, Draco?” Harry asked and Draco was brought back to reality.

“How do you know my name?” He questioned, a bit harshly.

“Well…” Harry turned his gaze away, a bit ashamed. “My friend Hermione talks about you a lot.”

Draco didn’t manage to suppress a smile.

“Not really good things, I suppose” He said, forgetting he was talking to Harry Potter and concentrating on the fact that Hermione Granger saw him as a threat.

“Yeah. I don’t pay much mind to it, I know she’s only trying to hate you because you stole the first place in some classes and all that.” Harry smiles shyly “I’ve always wanted to meet you, though”

Draco’s brain stopped working. Harry Potter, _The_ Harry Potter, wanted to meet _him?_

“You wanted to meet me?” Draco couldn’t stop himself from voicing his thoughts. He mentally slapped himself for it.

“Well, yeah.” Harry turned his gaze away again, but not out of shame this time “Hermione is the most brilliant and intelligent person I know, so I was quite curious to meet the boy that makes her so worried. Besides, you have quite the reputation.”

“Says The Harry Potter”

For Draco’s surprise, Harry groaned at that remark.

“Please don’t remind me.” Harry said tiredly “I don’t understand why people paint me as some kind of hero or whatever. I didn’t do anything, I was literally a baby!”

And after those words, Draco’s entire view of Harry Potter changed. He was definitely not the egocentric boy Draco imagined it to be. He, surprisingly, seemed to be a nice bloke.

“People are weird” Draco said with a small smile. “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Harry”

Harry smiled back.

“It’s nice to finally meet you too, Draco.” Harry turned his gaze back “Now, why are _you_ here?”

“Oh, well, I kind of fainted and fell off my broom” Draco said dismissively “Nothing too bad”

“I wonder what you would call too bad. How come you are not all broken?”

“My friend saved me.” Then, suddenly remembering that particular bit of information, Draco groaned. “And he’ll never let me leave it down. Fuck”

Harry laughed, and Draco found that he, strangely, really liked that sound.

A bit more than an hour a half later, Draco found himself walking towards the Great Hall. Before entering, he mentally prepared himself for the teasing that was to come.  With all that time Draco had given him, Blaise had surely come up with some good jokes to make at his expense. Draco just had to remain calm and it would be all right.

Draco entered the Hall silently, walking swiftly towards his usual place in the Slytherin table: between Theo and Vincent. Blaise would be sitting directly in front of him so Draco truly had to keep his face emotionless if he didn’t want even more teasing than what he was already sure to receive.

Deep breaths.

Draco sat down, breathed and looked up, directly in Blaise’s eyes.

“Draco,” The boy started, and Draco was ready for everything the boy could possibly say about what happened. “Are you alright?”

Well, not everything apparently.

“What?” Draco asked, confused.

“Are you alright?” Blaise repeated, proving that Draco had truly heard him correctly the first time. “You gave me quite the scare”

“Yeah, Draco” Theo chimed in. “Blaise told us what happened. We were all worried.”

Oh. _Oh._

“Oh” That day was full of surprises for Draco, apparently “I am feeling better, yes. Thank you for asking”

“That’s good, Draco” Blaise smiled a bit “Don’t ever pull something like that again though or I will let you fall”

“Noted” Draco smiled back “How’s the foot?”

“Good.” To show it, Blaise raised his leg, almost kicking poor Greg in the face, and moving his foot around “See? Madam Pomfrey works wonderfully”

“She truly does” Pansy agreed “She kept you there for a long time. Everything all right?”

Draco just nodded.

“She just wanted to make sure I was truly ok before letting me leave.” He explained.

“Must have been incredibly boring” Theo commented.

“It was not that bad actually. I made friends with Harry Potter.”

All of his friends turned to look at him, similar expressions surprise in their faces.

“You what?” Blaise asked.

“Yeah, I thought it was weird too” Draco admitted “ But he’s not half the arsehole I though he was so I guess it wasn’t that bad”

“Wasn’t you who said you didn’t want to be another pathetic Harry Potter fan when I suggested we go talk to him?” Pansy smirked “Oh, how the tables have turned”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, People change and all that bullshit. Besides, we just talked for a bit, we’re not suddenly best friends. Can we all just focus on eating?”

“You are so weird, Draco” Blaise told him, but he had a smile on his face “So weird.”

Later that day Draco found himself with Tom Riddle’s diary in his hands once more. That day had been a weird day and a day of change. Draco opened the diary and began writing.

_Hi, Tom. Sorry for my outburst, I exaggerated. I talked to Harry Potter today, he said he doesn’t remember anything about the Dark Lord incident._

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Harry didn’t really say that since Draco didn’t really ask, but the Slytherin could infer that information from Harry’s words.

**_Hello, Draco. I also apologize, it was quite insensitive of me to act the way I did. Is there other ways to acquire information about the incident other than asking Potter himself?_ **

_I’ll look more into it for you as soon as possible._

**_Thank you, Draco. Did anything interesting, aside from you talking to Potter, that happened today?_ **

_I kind of fell of my broom._

**_Oh?_ **

_Yeah, it was so weird because I just felt really tired all of a sudden even though I’m sure I slept enough. My team says I fainted or something._

**_That’s worrying, Draco. Did you go to the infirmary?_ **

_I did, but Madam Pomfrey didn’t find anything really wrong with me so she just blamed it on lack of sleep and food._

**_You said you slept enough, though?_ **

_Yeah, I don’t know. Anyway, I think I’ll sleep now. Don’t want to faint again tomorrow._

**_Good. Sleep well, Draco._ **

_Thank you._

Draco put the diary away and covered himself. He could hear the other boys also getting ready to sleep. He felt weird for sleeping so early, in a normal night he would stay for at least two more hours to study, but he also couldn’t deny his body’s need to rest. Draco was sure stupid Hermione Granger was still studying. Stupid girl. With a deep breath, Draco closed his eyes and let the darkness pull him into slumber.

When he woke up the next day, he still felt incredibly tired, but it wasn’t as bad as he was on the day before. Draco groaned into his pillow, asking himself what he did to deserve such punishment.

“For Salazar’s sake…” He grumbled, annoyed, as he got up and started getting ready for the day.

“Bad night of sleep?” Blaise asked.

“Yeah.” He rubbed his eyes “I think I’ve been cursed”

Blaise snorted.

“That would be sad” Greg commented, and Vincent nodded in agreement. Draco agreed too.

“Madam Pomfrey would have found something” Theo reasoned “Try again”

Draco didn’t bother to answer. Together, the five boys made their way to the Common Room where Pansy waited for them. She greeted the boys and led the group towards the Great Hall.

Draco walked slowly, behind everyone and looking down. It was all normal until his feet started stepping on water, then Theo suddenly stopped and Draco ended up bumping into him.

“What the fuck, Theo” He complained, rubbing his head.

Theo did not answer. Draco chose that moment to lift his head and see what made everyone stop. He felt his blood freeze at the sight in front of him.

The petrified body of Hermione Granger laid before him. Behind her, on the wall, big, red letter.

_The chamber of secrets had been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware._

The rest of the day passed by like a blur. It was a mixture of chaos and confusion that ended with Draco in his bed, unable to sleep even though he had never felt more tired, clutching the diary close to his chest. Everything felt so unreal. Draco opened the diary.

_Tom?_

**_Yes, Draco?_ **

_What do you know about the Chamber of Secrets?_

**_Just that it was opened once by a man named Hagrid._ **

Draco froze. No way, there was no way. Draco never really liked the gigantic man, but he knew someone like him would never do something like what he saw on the hallway.

_Are you sure?_

**_I’m quite positive, yes. Why do you ask?_ **

_Don’t worry about it._

Draco closed the diary without waiting for a response and rested it on his bed. His head hurt with the speed in which his thoughts raced through his mind. There was no way Hagrid was the culprit behind that attack. The man was friends with Hermione and the message did say enemies. Hermione was no enemy of Hagrid. In fact, Hermione was no one’s enemy really. Maybe she could be considered his enemy, but he would never do any of that.

Not willingly at least.

Maybe…?

No, it couldn’t be him. He would never do such things. Besides, people would see him doing it if he was truly the one behind it all, no?

 _Not if it was in the middle of the night_ , his mind supplied.

He was, indeed, feeling quite tired, almost like he had been walking around the castle instead of sleeping.

Almost like he had opened the Chamber of Secrets one night to lead whatever had been there to Hermione on the next.

But how? How could he be the one behind it all if he didn’t even remember most of it? Someone had to be controlling him, that was the only explanation. Someone or…

Draco looked at the diary.

Something.

And then, as if reading Draco’s thoughts, the diary opened suddenly. In the blank pages, black ink started to show.

**_Too soon, Draco. I’m sorry._ **

Draco only had time to read those words before everything went black.

When he opened his eyes again, he wasn’t in the boy’s dorm anymore. No, he was laying in wet, hard ground. His body felt like it was on fire, but he also felt cold.

“Draco?” A voice called “Are you alright?”

Draco blinked and turned his head in the direction of the voice. A pair of green eyes stared back at him.

“I feel like shit” Draco managed to say and Harry chuckled.

“Yeah, that’s fair. What’s the last thing you remember?”

Draco frowned, trying to think.

“I was in the dorm, on my bed. I had just figured out the diary was controlling me and-” Draco abruptly sat up, groaning in pain at the quick movement. He tried his best to ignore it and looked at Harry “The diary, it needs to be-”

“Already taken care of” Harry assured him “I destroyed it, Draco. You are free now.”

Draco did not feel relieved.

“What happened?’ He asked.

Harry eyed him sadly.

“Let’s get out of here first. Then I can explain”

Draco nodded and, with Harry’s help, got up. Harry helped him through the chamber and they ended up in a girl’s bathroom, where Pansy and Blaise were waiting for them.

“Is he himself?” Blaise asked Harry and the boy nodded.

“Thank Merlin” Pansy sighed, clearly relieved, and embraced Draco in a tight hug.

“I don’t understand” Draco said.

“Yeah, me neither” Blaise explained.

“It was the diary.” Harry said “Theo was right. The diary was controlling him”

“Speaking of him, where is Theo? And Vincent and Greg?” Draco asked.

Pansy, Blaise and Harry exchanged worried glances. After a few seconds, Blaise stepped forward.

“They will all be fine, Draco.” He said in a tense voice “Keep that in mind and don’t blame yourself”

“You are scaring me, Blaise” Draco warned.

Blaised sighed.

“Theo is petrified” The boy spoke carefully “He managed to write down his discoveries for us to read though, so we knew what to do”

“And Vince and Greg?” Draco pressed.

“They are in the infirmary. When we discovered you were being controlled they wanted to try to stop yo-, well, stop Tom Riddle actually. That was definitely not you.”

Draco felt his blood freeze.

“What did I do?” He asked, slightly panicking

“Nothing too serious or anything, calm down.” Pansy told him “Tom just fought back. Using your body”

Draco’s legs began to tremble. Soon Harry was by his side to support him.

“Fuck” Draco said.

“It was not your fault, Draco” Harry said firmly “It was not you.”

“I’m the one who took the diary, though. I’m the one who started all this mess in the first place”

Harry just shook his head.

“There was no way you could possibly have known, Draco. And besides, no one got permanently hurt.” Harry tried to smile reassuringly “Things will be alright”

Draco really wanted to believe that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe i'll write what happened when Draco was under control someday. Would anyone be interested in reading that?


	3. Year Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait guys! Writing long chapter is really a challenge for me D:   
> Also! Important stuff to know about this story:  
> It has been years since I read the books or watched the movies, so I ask you guys not toexpect this to fit canon. I’m a lazy person, ok, so sometimes I'll just make shit up, mess up with the chronology (nothing major, I’ll keep the main conflicts of each year intact) and just change stuff to fit the story (including descriptions of places).  
> I guess that fits well with what fanfictions do, but I felt the need to say this since most of the stories "rewrites" I read are pretty on point with canon stuff.   
> In summary: forget canon most of the time, if you think something doesn't make sense just tell me in the comment and I'll either explain it better or say "fuck it is actually a bunch of bullshit!", apologize and try to change it.

In any other day, Draco would probably have slapped Pansy’s hand away with an angry sigh and some mean comment. At that moment though, Draco welcomed the touch, even though it would mess his perfect hair. After the year he had, the state of his hair was far on his list of top priorities.

“-beautiful at that of the year. It was a very nice trip” Blaise was telling them all, but Draco was only paying half the attention he usually would to his friend’s story. He felt kinda bad for it, Blaise did not deserve that kind of treatment, but he couldn’t really help it. His head just wasn’t on it. “My mother said-”

Draco lost the words, eyes focused on a spot at the floor. Sometimes he would look at Vince’s feet, observe the way he would tap his left foot anxiously from time to time, wonder if something happened to make him feel nervous, if maybe that something was his presence. He wouldn’t blame Vince for hating him, he would hate himself too. Maybe they should talk? Would Vince want to talk to him?

“-flowers and all that.” Pansy said, and Draco imagined she was smiling. “Although I really like snow. I have this scarf-”

Lucius had not been as angry as Draco imagined he would be. The talk they had after the whole diary incident was so different form what Draco imagined it would be. His father didn’t really get into details about how Voldemort’s fucking diary came to be in his possession, said something about Draco being too young to understand. He just requested Draco to never go through his stuff without asking ever again. As if the whole ordeal was not enough to make Draco stay far away from that dark office.

“Yeah, I think you could say that” Draco felt move Theo move slightly from where his head rested on his friend’s shoulder. He briefly wondered if that position bothered Nott, if he would prefer to stay away from Draco, never talk to him again. “But I don’t think-”

Draco had no memories from the time Riddle took control. All he knew was what his friends told him and he couldn’t help but wonder if they were hiding stuff to make him feel better. Would it be better if he had seen what he did? Would he be able to live with those images in his head? Knowing every little detail of all the horrible things he did?

“Why did we stop?” Greg asked no one in particular and Draco’s bubble was burst.

He blinked.

They had, indeed, stopped moving, which was weird since Hogwarts Express never stopped like that. Not the most unusual thing that had happened to Draco, he had to admit, but still, you know, unusual. Pansy’s hand left Draco’s hair as the girl got up to look at the window.

“Can you see something outside?” Draco asked, voice low. Apparently, judging by how startled everyone seemed at his question, seeing him speak was almost as surprising as having the express stop out of nowhere. He lifted his head from Theo’s shoulder and smoothed the fabric of his pants nervously. “Pansy?”

The girl blinked twice and then shook her head, looking outside one more time for good measure.

“Can’t see anything” She told everyone and dropped back at her seat.

“Why would we stop in the middle of nowhere?” Greg asked, again to no one in particular, and looked at the window, his brow furrowed. “Do you think the train broke down?”

“Very unlikely” Theo said, expression serious. “But a possibility”

“Maybe it has something to do with Black?” Blaise suggested.

Draco frowned. Black? As in his mother’s family?

“Black?” He whispered, too low for anyone to hear.

“It makes sense, I guess” Theo agreed with Blaise which only made Draco grow more confused “What Black would be doing in the Hogwarts Express of all places I have no idea.”

“Black?” Draco asked again, louder this time. Blaise turned to him.

“Yeah?” He tilted his head to the left, as if wondering why Draco was asking such question “Sirius Black? The fugitive?”

The name was not unfamiliar. Draco vaguely remember his mother mentioning her cousin, a crazy man who ended up following the steps of her crazy sister and was doomed to spending all his life locked away in Azkaban.

“He escaped Azkaban?” Draco asked incredulously, his eyes almost comedically wild.

“It was all over the news” Vince told him. “No one knows how he did it”

“Some people think it has to do with You-Know-Who” Greg adds in an almost whisper. The temperature in the cabin seems to drop at the words.

Draco let out a shaky breath, seeing it transform into a white fog in front of him. Wait. He looked around, the glass at the door was fogging up, Pansy was shivering in her skirt. Draco’s eyes widened. It was no feeling; the temperature had actually dropped. That could only mean…

“Dementors” Theo whispered next to him and Draco had never heard his friend sound that scared.

The lights flickered.

Once.

Twice.

Out.

The glass door was blurry, but it was still see through enough that they were able to look at the creepy creature passing by. They saw the moment it stopped, the moment it turned, almost as if it was peeking inside, choosing its victims.

“Don’t move” Pansy told them through gritted teeth. Draco almost laughed at the command. He wouldn’t be able to move even if he wanted to.

It felt like years, but after a couple of seconds it passed. The Slytherins kept as still as possible, though. Draco felt Pansy reach out for his hand and took it, giving the girl a reassuring squeeze. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the door, afraid the creature would come back, afraid it would burst through the door and attack them.

“Is it gone?’ Vince whispered.

“I think-” Blaise began, but never finished.

A scream pierced through the tense atmosphere. A voice Draco knew.

_Harry._

Before any of them could say or do anything, another voice was heard. Loud and clear, full of confidence.

“ _Expecto Patronum!_ ” The voice said, and the train was consumed by light.

The lights flickered.

Once.

On.

Draco opened his eyes. His friends seemed confused to say the least, Pansy still held his hand tightly.

“What just happened?” Blaise asked, a bit out of breath.

No one could answer him.

Draco blinked and let go of Pansy’s hand to scrub his eyes. The train seemed consumed by magical energy. The coldness and terror of dementors being fought by the warmth and sheer power of a Patronus. _Who had casted it?,_ Draco questioned himself. The question seemed way less important when he remembered why there was a need to cast a Patronus in the first place.

“Harry” He said. Blaise was the first one to understand and they got up at practically the same time, reaching for the door.

It was not like Harry and Draco had become best friends all of a sudden. Far from that, really. But it’s not like they were still enemies (not that Harry had ever considered Draco an enemy, but whatever). They were friends, Draco would say. And friends worried about each other if one of them got attacked by a freaking dementor.

Someone threw a cabin’s door open, walking away in fast strides towards where the driver was. The man seemed too old to be a student, even if they could only see his back, so Draco guessed he was a teacher. Probably the new DADA one, after Lockhart cowardly ran away to no one’s surprise. If a teacher was hurriedly leaving a cabin maybe it meant…?

“Harry?” Draco called, poking his head inside.

Three pairs of eyes stared back of him. He only focused on the green ones. Harry looked back at him, smiled a bit.

“Hey, Draco” The boy said. Draco noticed his hands were trembling a bit but decided not to comment on it.

Then Blaise arrived, letting out a relieved sigh once he saw Harry.

“Thank Salazar you are okay” Blaise said to Harry, also ignoring the other two people with the boy.

“We got worried when we heard the screaming” Draco completed. “Dementors are really dangerous creatures. Have you eaten chocolate already?”

“I-I, yeah.” Harry smiled shyly at them “Professor Lupin gave me some”

“Is Harry okay?” Theo was also out of their cabin, followed by Pansy, Greg and Vince. Together, they blocked the whole corridor. Draco sighed.

“He’s good” He told them. The train whistled, announcing it would soon start moving again. Draco gestured to the others “Let’s get back, the train will start” He turned to Harry “We’ll talk again soon, yeah?”

Harry smiled, and nodded. Draco nodded back and closed the cabin.

“Why are you friends with so many Slytherins?!” Draco heard the boy, a Weasley, Draco could tell, comment before entering his own cabin and closing his own door.

“Well” Pansy said “I hope that’s the most adventure will have for the rest of the year”

Draco agreed, but his instincts told him that no matter how much they hoped, things would still get worse before they got better. Especially since the bunch of them seemed to find themselves friends with Harry Potter of all people.

“Let’s get changed” Theo said “We’ll arrive soon”

Robes on, they spent the rest of the trip mostly in silence. It wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable, quite the contrary: it was a good silence, a necessary one. Draco suspected it was a Slytherin thing, to stay quiet as a way to process strong events. Ravenclaws would probably talk about it, rationalize it, try to find solutions and good coping methods. Hufflepuffs would change subjects, tell jokes, try to make the mood lighter, better. Gryffindors would talk about it as if it was a challenge, would think about the what ifs, would get emotional over it, try to prepare for a next time if there ever were one. However, them, the Slytherins, they would keep quiet. They would process it individually, but they wouldn’t be alone.

Pansy’s hand found itself back into his and they stayed like that until the train finally stopped at Hogwarts and they left their cabin to begin another year. They walked together to the Great Hall, sat together at the Slytherin table, clapped together for the new Slytherin first years and walked together to the dungeons.

They were together on that, Draco knew it. Still, when they reached their dorms and he let himself fall into his bed, he couldn’t help but feel weirdly alone. It was a bad sensation, bad enough to make sleeping a real challenge.

“What’s wrong with you?” Draco asked himself, voice angry. He just wanted to sleep, why couldn’t he sleep?

With a frustrated sigh, Draco sat up. It wouldn’t do him good to keep rolling around the bed and getting angry with himself. Maybe all he needed was a walk. Yeah, a walk would be nice. Besides, he could get any points he may end up losing back with a few answered questions the next day. Not that he was planning on getting caught, but it was always good to have a backup plan to use if anything went wrong.

Carefully, Draco got up from his bed and put on his shoes. He also grabbed a coat, Hogwarts was a very cold place at night. Ready to go, he walked slowly to the common room, careful not to make a single sound.

The Slytherin common room was a chilly place, especially when the fire at the fireplace was long burned out. When Draco first saw the place, all the way back to his first year, he was a bit mad that they pushed Slytherin all the way to the bottom of the lake. It felt like another “fuck you” from the Headmaster. For a long time, Draco caught himself wishing they had a tall tower like Gryffindor or Ravenclaw as he stared at the dark waters of the lake through the giant glass. He no longer felt like that. After countless days spent at the place with his friends, he learned to see the Slytherin dungeon as a part of his home, learned to look at the creatures swimming with interest and curiosity instead of discussed, learned to appreciate the chilly temperature and the dark toned walls. It was weird to be there without anyone else, since he had never tried to sneak out.

_Unless you count the time Riddle sneaked out for him._

Draco shuddered. He did not want to think about it, really didn’t. Still, if Riddle was able to make him leave the dungeons so effortlessly, there must had been some kind of secret passage, maybe an invisibility spell? If his latter assumption was correct, Draco’s escapade would have to be delayed. He mentally put learning invisibility charms in his to do list for the year.

Draco sighed, a bit defeated, but willing to at least look around. It wouldn’t hurt, right? Besides, if he found anything, the discovery would be useful for more than just late-night escapades for walks. He felt a small smile form on his face, thinking about all the possibilities that would come out of finding a secret way to get in and out unnoticed.

He started by looking at the walls, then at the book shelves, then at the weird decorations over the fireplace, then at the fireplace itself. Draco was ready to give up when he finally looked at the windows. They all had snake ornaments as decorations: their heads on the bottom and top corners while their bodies decorated the sides of the windows. They all had silver snakes, with the exception of one lonely window, partially hidden by a particularly large armchair. Those snakes were darker, almost as if made of iron. Maybe…?

He walked towards it and, standing on his tip-toes, tried to reach for the snake head on the left. He toyed with it for a bit, but nothing happened, the thing didn’t even move. Draco moved to the right snake.

“Please work” Draco asked no one.

He pulled it. At first, it seemed to be a failure like the other one, Draco was ready to give up and try his luck by escaping through the front door, but then the snake’s eyes lit up. It turned its head to Draco and opened its mouth.

“ _What’ssss your purpossssse?”_ It hissed to him in a low voice.

It startled him a bit, but that was definitely not the weirdest thing he had ever seen. Draco thought for a few seconds. The question had quite the philosophical connotations, but he highly doubted the snake was asking him about the meaning of his life.

“I want to leave unnoticed.” He whispered to the snake.

“ _Where do you want to go?”_ It hissed again.

Draco gave it some thought. A place where the chance of bumping into someone was close to non-existent while he could still breath some air was what he needed. _Ah!_ He knew just where.

“Astronomy tower” He told the snake.

The creature moved its head, almost as if nodding, then started moving the rest of its body. Draco watched mesmerized as it creeped along the wall until its body formed a circle with itself.

“ _Passssss”_ The snake hissed.

Draco didn’t have to be told twice. One quick breath in and he was going through the once solid wall to appear at the astronomy tower not a second later. He exhaled, eyes widened in pure amazement. The magic behind it all probably combined the one at King Cross with portkeys or something equally as amazing. Did it only go to places within school grounds? Why did the snake ask for his purpose? Did it have some kind of filter so as to let or not people pass through? How did-

“Draco?”

Draco was not proud of how far up in the air he jumped at the sound of his name being called, but he was kinda proud of the lack of a scream. He clutched his shirt as he turned around, as if it could calm down his rapidly beating heart. Sitting at one of the tower’s unglazed windows was no one other than Harry Potter, who was looking at Draco as if he had grown another head.

“Harry?” Draco called back, equally as surprised to see the boy there.

“How did you go through the wall?” Harry asked, getting down from the window and walking towards his friend.

“A snake let me through” Draco answered, ignoring Harry’s frown “How did _you_ get up here? Gryffindor’s tower is quite far away ”

“So are the dungeons” Harry replied.

“That’s why I came through the wall.” Draco deadpanned. “What’s your excuse?”

Harry crossed his arms protectively and Draco managed to see him give a quick glance back to where he was once sitting. It was then that Draco noticed a piece of fabric there. He frowned. Was it a blanket? Harry, as if sensing Draco’s question, moved to keep the cloth out of Draco’s view.

“It’s a secret” He said. “It’s not like you told me how you came here, anyway”

Draco was about to complain, say that he _did_ tell Harry, but he would’ve been lying. His explanation was far from, well, an _explanation._ Harry had a point in keeping secrets about his means to late-night escapades. Draco was doing the same.

The blond sighed.

“If I tell you how I got here,” He began, tentatively “will you tell me how you did it?”

Harry seemed to consider it for a second before he extended his hand to Draco.

“Deal” The boy said. They shook hands and Harry gestured to Draco to begin. “You start”

Draco nodded.

“The Slytherin common room has a secret passage” He told Harry “It’s a snake- no, not a real snake, Harry. We don’t have real snakes in our common room.” Harry opened his mouth. “Do you have real lions at your common room?” Harry closed his mouth. “Good. Back to the matter at hand, there’s a magic snake. It’s like a decorative piece for our window until you pull on its head to wake it up. It then asks your purpose and I told it I wanted to leave without the risk of getting caught. I don’t really know the limits of it, but I plan on discovering those soon.” He gestured to Harry “Your turn”

Harry rubbed his hands nervously and he kept looking back at the blanket on the window. His eyes were serious when they found Draco’s.

“You can’t tell a soul about this, alright?” Harry said “Promise me that you won’t tell anyone.”

Draco frowned. What could it possibly be that required such level of secrecy? Was Harry doing anything…illegal? No, he wouldn’t. …Right?

“I promise” He said, deciding it was better to just know instead of making assumptions.

“Good” Harry nodded and turned to the window, gesturing for Draco to follow. “Hermione is going to kill me if she finds out I told you” Draco heard him mutter to himself.

Draco was half way into opening his mouth to say he does not care about what stupid Granger thinks when Harry took the blanket and completely disappeared under it.

“…What the fuck” Draco muttered, staring at the empty space where his friend was merely seconds before.

“Yeah” Harry said, even though Harry was no where to be seen.

“How-” Draco looked around, trying to make sure he was not being pranked by his friend.

“It’s an invisibility cloak” Harry explained as he reappeared exactly where he left. “it was my father’s, but he gave it to Dumbledore, who gave it to me on my first year.”

Draco just stared at him, a million questions on his mind. One of them definitely was how Dumbledore could possibly think giving something like an invisibility cloak to an eleven year was even close to a good idea, but Draco decided not to voice that specific concern.

“Wow” He said instead.

Harry grinned at him.

“Pretty cool, huh?” He put the fabric back on the window and sat next to it, his back to the wall. He pointed at the empty space in front of him with his head, gesturing for Draco to also sit. Draco sat and they looked at each other for a few seconds before Harry spoke again “By the way, does your portal thing work both ways?”

“It-” Draco started, but cut himself abruptly. He frowned. “ I actually have no idea”

Harry snorted. Draco glared at him until he boy raised his hands in an act of fake surrender.

“Sorry” Harry said, not sounding sorry at all “It’s just weird that you of all people would forget something like that.”

“Should I take that as a compliment?” Draco crossed his arms, but he wasn’t really angry. Harry smiled.

“Don’t worry, grumpy” He lifted the cloak “I’ll give you a lift when we leave.”

Draco smiled a bit, trying to contain his excitement to be using a real invisibility cloak. Harry smiled back, but it didn’t quite seem to reach his eyes. Draco frowned, worried.

“What are you doing here so late, Harry?” He asked “Is it because of the dementor earlier?”

Harry shook his head. Draco raised an eyebrow, clearly not convinced. Harry sighed.

“I guess there’s no point in lying to you” Harry grumbled. He brought his knees up, hugging them with a tight embrace. “When the dementor, uh, attacked me on the train I- Well, I think I passed out, but before that I heard-” He stopped.

“Yeah?” Draco asked, encouraging him to continue.

Harry sighed yet again.

“I heard a scream. At first, I thought I had just heard myself, Hermione and Ron didn’t hear anything, but it didn’t sound like me. So I kept thinking about it and-” One more sigh. “And I think I heard my mother scream.”

Harry wasn’t looking at him, but Draco gave him a sad smile anyway.

“Harry” He called, voice gentle. “ Do you know what dementors do?”

Harry nodded, head resting on his folded arms.

“Hermione said they feed on happy feelings.” He said tiredly.

“Well, yes” Draco agreed “But that’s not all” Harry looked up at him. Draco continued. “While they suck on your happy feelings, they make you relieve your worst memory.” He felt a chill go up his spine “Over and over again”

Harry blinked.

“So that’s why…” He let go of his knees and gestured with his hands. Draco nodded.

“That’s why” He agreed.

They stayed in silence for a bit. Draco wondered if Harry wanted a hug and was about to ask when the boy spoke again.

“Well” Harry said with a scowl “Dementors are arseholes”

Draco wasn’t able to suppress his snort. Harry smiled back at him and this time it really seemed to be genuine.

“Now’s your turn” Harry gestured “What are _you_ doing here in the middle of the night?”

Draco smile died. Harry’s followed suit.

“I just couldn’t sleep” He explained simply. They both knew there was more to it.

“Draco” Harry called tentatively “You know that what happened last year was not your fault, right?”

 “That’s what everyone says” Draco shrugged. “But I don’t think even they believe it.

Harry frowned.

“Did someone say something to you?” He asked and Draco could see him closing his fists, almost as if preparing to fight. He would have laughed at the action if he was in the mood for mockery.

“No one has said anything, Harry” Draco told him tiredly. “They don’t need to say it. It’s in the way they act around me, as if they need to be careful or I might try to kill them again. Vince seemed so anxious on the train and Blaise doesn’t think I see the pitied looks he throws at me from time to time, but I do. I see everything. I know they blame me for what happened”

“Do you, Draco?” Harry protested. “Because it seems to me that you have a lot of self-hatred going on are trying to use your friend’s genuine care for you to validate it.” Draco opened his mouth to disagree. “Shhh. Stop it, you hear me out before telling me I’m wrong.” Draco closed his mouth and Harry smiled, satisfied. “Look, Draco, I get where you are coming from. I wasn’t possessed by Voldemort, but-” Harry gulped “ But he killed my parents. And I know it was because of me, I know it was me he was after. It’s easy for me to say it was my fault”

“It really wasn’t” Draco interjected and then realized the point of it all. Harry smiled.

“You see what I mean, then.” He completed gently “Don’t blame yourself for Voldemort’s bad doings, Draco. He’s the evil bastard, not you.”

Draco bit his lip. He got what Harry meant, of course he did, but still…

“It’s hard” He admitted.

“I know” Harry said in a way that made him sound fifty years older. “But we’ve got to try. For our sake.”

Draco took a deep breath and nodded. Harry smiled at him.

“Now that that’s out of the way for now” The green-eyed boy began “Anything else on your mind?”

_Sirius Black,_ Draco’s mind supplied, but he decided not to voice his thoughts. The atmosphere had been tense enough without him bring up crazy cousins into the mix.

“Slytherin will totally win the House Cup this year” He said instead, a grin on his face.

“In your dreams, Malfoy” Harry teases “Just wait till this year’s monster shows up. I’ll defeat it so hard Dumbledore will have to Gryffindor a bazillion points”

Draco didn’t even try to contain his laughter. It was weird, to just laugh about the very real possibility of a life-threatening experience, but he couldn’t help it. Who would have thought the Boy Who Lived had such a dark humor?

“You do have a point” Draco admitted after he was able to breath again “The Quidditch Cup is ours, though”

“Keep telling yourself that” Harry mocked, and Draco gave him a playful kick on the knee.

“Screw you, Potter” He said with false anger “You just haven’t seen me in top shape yet. Riddle was a shitty player.”

If Harry was surprised to hear Draco joking about the thing he was sad about not a few minutes before, he didn’t show it.

“Yeah, yeah” Harry teased. He looked at the night sky with a smile. “Regardless of the Cup, I’m dying to go flying again.”

“Didn’t you go during the break?” Draco asked.

Harry shook his head.

“The muggles I live with are not very accepting of Wizard stuff” He explained. Draco felt like there was more to it but decided not to pry. Harry continued “And I kind of inflated my aunt and ran away so it’s not like I had much time to go flying”

Draco blinked.

“I beg your pardon?”

Harry chuckled.

“Long story short, I accidentally transformed my aunt into a balloon and ran away from home. Got a ride on the Knight Bus, real adventure.”

Again, Draco felt like the story was much more complex than Harry was making it out to be and, again, he decided not to pry.

“Mother says the driver is insane” He told Harry. The boy nodded.

“Your mother is a hundred percent correct. I honestly thought I would die in that bus.” Harry grinned “Voldemort would be _pissed_.”

They kept talking for a while, discussing mundane things like Quidditch moves and their weird book for Care of Magical Creatures. It was relaxing, just sitting down and talking. They would probably have stayed there all night long if sleep hadn’t caught up with them. Harry was the first to yawn.

“It’s quite late, isn’t it?” Draco said sympathetically. Harry nodded and then yawned again. Draco chuckled. “We should go. The dungeons are quite far away from your tower”

Harry nodded again and they both got down from the window. For no good reason, Draco held his breath as Harry put the cloak over them, only letting go when they were both positively secure under it

“If you see anyone, just stay quiet” Harry advised, and they started walking.

Walking together proved to be quite the challenge, since one of them always seemed to stay just a little bit too far behind and ended up getting uncovered. Harry resolved the problem by linking their arms and Draco didn’t put too much thought into why that action made his heart beat a little faster. It was strange to just walk around the castle past curfew with no worries of being seen, but Draco quite liked the feeling. Especially with Harry’s company.

“We’re here” Harry whispered, and Draco felt him shiver a bit.

“The dungeons don’t bite, Potter, no need to be afraid” He teased, which resulted in a kick to the shin. Draco chuckled. “Common, the entrance is that way”

Once in front of the wall, Draco got closer to whisper the password.

“Squiddicth” He said hurriedly. Harry suppressed a laugh.

“What kind of password is squidditch?” He mocked.

“It’s a Slytherin joke. You Gryffindors wouldn’t understand it, it’s real humor.” He teased back.

“Yeah, sure” Harry rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on his face. “Night, Draco”

Draco smiled back.

“Night, Harry”

When Draco woke up the next day, even after having only about four hours of sleep, he let himself believe that things would, indeed, get better. Sirius Black was on the loose, but (1) they were on Hogwarts and (2) there were dementors protecting them. And yeah, a murderous crazy man running free was scary and dementors were scarier, but they were safe.

And then Draco learned, only a few days later, that nope, they really weren’t.

“Draco!” Blaise called, successfully waking the boy up. Draco blinked rapidly, looking around in confusion. “Get up, we have to leave”

“What are you talking about?” Draco questioned, confused, but still doing what Blaise asked. He had to blink a few more times to stop missing the shoe he was trying to put on.

“We have to go to the Great Hall” Not Blaise, but Theo answered. Draco could see Blaise behind him, waking Vince up.

“What?” Greg asked with a yawn. Vince was rubbing his eyes next to him “Why?”

“Sirius Black is in the castle” Blaise said and his tone was clear: questions later. “Now let’s go”

No one dared to complain. When they arrived, the Great hall was already filled with students from al houses and the tables that were usually there had been replaced by piles of sleep sacks.

“No one leaves alone” The Gryffindor prefect was screaming “If you have to go somewhere, talk to your house’s prefect”

Draco hurriedly grabbed a sleep sack for him and threw one for each of the boys and Pansy. They chose to stay where they would usually sit at the Slytherin table, had the furniture been there.

“How do you think he got in?” Vince asked as they all sat together.

“I have no idea” Theo shrugged “But the guy escaped Azkaban, so I don’t think it was too hard for him to get in here”

“Don’t say that!” Greg complained. Vince put a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“It’s the truth, Greg” Theo shrugged again.

“I heard the prefects saying he tried to get into Gryffindor” Pansy told them, ignoring the boys. “But their portrait started screaming before he could do anything”

“Gryffindor?” Blaise asked, incredulously “For Salazar! Don’t they get tired of getting into this type of trouble?”

“How much you want to bet it has something to do with Harry?” Theo asked morbidly.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Vince commented.

“Certainly” Theo answered, “It’s way past curfew and Black was unsuccessful at getting inside the Gryffindor tower. He was safe inside.”

_But was he?_ , Draco found himself wondering. It was not that long ago that both he and Harry had escaped past curfew. For Draco it was a one-time thing, but maybe Harry did it more often? Draco got up and looked around frantically, trying to spot the familiar messy hair.  He had to calm down, had to be reasonable. What were the chances that Harry would be out of his common room on the day Sirius Black decided to attack anyway?

…

By Salazar, who was Draco trying to kid. This was Harry Potter he was talking about. The chances of him being _in_ the common room were slimmer than the alternative.

“Draco!”

Draco let out the biggest sigh of relief he had ever let out in his entire life. Harry Potter would be the death of him. He turned around so quickly that he almost slapped a random Hufflepuff in the face.

“For Salazar’s sake, Harry!” He barked as he walked towards the boy “Must you always attract trouble to yourself?!”

“How is Sirius Black breaking into the school my fault?” Harry complained.

“We were actually betting on your involvement” Theo, who had also gotten up, told him. He passed his arm over Harry’s shoulders, moving him to where the others were sat.

“Yeah, yeah. Well, fuck you guys” Harry cursed, but there was a small smile on his face.

“Rude” Pansy complained playfully and moved a bit to the left so Harry could sit down next to her. “We’re glad you are ok, though”

“Not a single scratch, you see?” Harry said as he gestured to himself. He turned to Draco. “No need to get all dramatic about it”

“You give a hundred reasons to be dramatic, Harry Potter” Draco huffed.

“And Draco’s dramatic without your help” Blaise chimed in “So really, nothing new here.”

Draco rolled his eyes at their laughter. Not his fault Harry was quite literally a bad luck magnet. He had all the reasons to be worried.

“Yeah, keep laughing” Draco grumbled “Next time, I let you die”

“I am perfectly fine!” Harry argued.

“But you could very well not be!” Draco replied “You already managed to get attacked by a dementor this year, Black is just the next on the list”

“Look, I-” Harry began, but cut himself. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened again, closed it. Draco stared at him, Harry sighed, defeated. “You have a point.”

“Of course I do” Draco agreed.

“Harry!” The unmistakable sound of Granger’s voice brought all of their attention to where the girl stood, a few feet away from the group. She flushed at bit at that and got only a bit closer before she stopped walking. “Ron is looking for you.”

“I told him where I was going” Harry complained, but he was already getting up to follow his Gryffindor friend.

“Yeah, but that was more than ten minutes ago! He was worried, Harry, and you can hardly blame him for it”

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. He turned to the Slytherins.

“See you guys later” He told them with a sad smile before walking away with Granger. Draco watched them go with a scowl.

“I wish I knew why the Gryffindors are so keen on not letting Harry hang out with us” Draco complained.

“You already have your answer, Draco, they’re Gryffindors” Theo yawned. “We should probably get back to sleep anyway”

“Yeah” Draco agreed, but his eyes were on Harry as he sat down next to Weasley and Granger, very far from them. “Back to sleep we go”

The next day passed without much trouble, which was not saying much for a school that had been invaded by a criminal the day before. They didn’t find Black anywhere, but it wasn’t like anyone was really expecting them to. At lest Draco had no false hopes. But yeah, aside from the murder still on the loose (and the fact that Harry’s friends seemed to never let him talk to Draco), things were ok.

They only began getting bad again about four days later, in their DADA class.

“I know times are a tad hard, these days” Remus Lupin, their new teacher and also the man Draco had seen leave Harry’s cabin on the train, told them with a gentle smile “But there’s no time better than the present to fight our fears” Draco highly doubted that, but he kept his mouth shut. Lupin gestured for the cabinet behind him “Today’s lesson is about fear, and about overcoming it. Can anyone guess what’s inside this?”

Theo’s hand shot up, just a millisecond faster than Granger’s.

“Yes, Mr. Nott?”

“Is it a boggart, sir?”

Lupin smiled.

“Yes, it indeed is. Five points to Slytherin.”

Draco would have congratulated him if he wasn’t so busy internally freaking out. A boggart! Of all things! Why would someone want to play with fears at a time like this!

“Does anyone know what a boggart does?” Professor Lupin continued.

This time, Granger’s hand was faster.

“It turns itself into whatever their victim fears the most” She said.

“Correct. Five points to Gryffindor.”

“Granger is such a know-it-all” Blaise complained. Theo hummed in agreement next to him. Draco ignored them both.

“The spell used to face a boggart is easy” Lupin continued “The incantation is quite simple. Repeat after me: _riddikulus_!”

“Riddikulus!” The class shouted in unison. Draco couldn’t be bothered.

He was vaguely aware of people moving, forming a line, preparing themselves to face the boggart. Draco gulped and looked up, seeing the way Weasley made the legs of a giant spider fall off. _It’s easy, you see?,_ He told himself, _If Weasley can do it, so can you._

The line was a mix between Slytherins and Gryffindors. Draco watched attentively, clutching his wand under his robes, as the boggart took the form of a giant snake for a Gryffindor girl just to be turned into a jack-in-the-box seconds later. Theo was next, and his boggart was quite similar to the girl’s. The only thing was, instead of a snake, the creature took the form of a basilisk. Theo managed to shout riddikulus just before it opened its eyes and the giant monster turned into a caterpillar.

Draco briefly wondered if they would all be dead, or at least petrified, had Theo not shouted the incantation when he did. He did not want to know.

A few more Gryffindor students had their turn, turning the boggart into a variation of scary magical creatures, before Blaise, who was right in front of Draco, had his turn. Blaise’s boggart was a woman covered in blood that smiled creepily at them all. Draco only recognized her as Blaise’s mother once he turned her into an ice-cream seller.

“You’re all doing great!” Lupin encouraged “Next!”

Draco gulped and stepped forward. The woman looked at him for a split second before the form changed and the familiar black book fell to the ground in front of Draco. He took out his wand with a trembling hand, the book stared at him mockingly. He just had to shout the incantation, he was fine.

Or, at least, he would have been fine, had the diary not opened itself. Draco watched, speechless, as thick black ink leaked out of the pages and formed a humanoid figure over them, one that quite resembled himself. The thing trembled like static, its members moving in unnatural ways.

“Riddik-” Draco started, but didn’t finish.

In a split second, the ink expanded, the creature it had formed grew more pairs of arms that together shot forward to grab Draco and his friends. He saw it wrap itself around Blaise on his right and around Pansy on his left and oh Salazar, they it on his neck.

_I’m going to die_ , Draco thought, _And I’m going to bring my friends with me if I don’t do something about it._

The realization was strong enough to snap Draco out of his panic and make him raise his wand even as the ink wrapped itself tighter around his body.

“Riddikulus!” He gasped and move the wand.

The ink let him go and he fell butt first on the ground. On the place where the black diary once was, a copy of one of Lockhart’s books stood, the moving image of the stupid wizard’s face smiling at them. The class was in complete silence.

“…Alright, that’s enough for today. Class dismissed” Lupin commanded in a firm voice and most of the students were fast to get out. The professor moved his wand rapidly and the book went flying into the cabinet.

Draco stayed where he was, not daring to move a muscle. With the corner of his eye he could see Pansy also on the ground, breathing heavy.

 “Draco” Theo called on his right “Are you alright?”

“Yeah” Draco answered without turning, eyes fixed on the cabinet “I’m ok”

“Liar” Theo pulled his arm, efficiently making Draco turn to him. “Talk to me, Draco”

Draco opened his mouth, but no words came out. He closed it and looked away. Theo sighed tiredly and let go of Draco’s arm to bring his friend into a tight embrace.

“Did I hurt anyone?” Draco asked, voice small.

“We’re fine, Drake” It wasn’t Theo who answered, but Pansy. “Don’t worry too much”

“I’m sorry” He tried.

“Not your fault” Theo reassured. Draco was growing very tired of hearing those words.

Needless to say, the rest of the day was not good. Professor Lupin managed to let them skip the rest of their classes, so the Slytherins just stayed in their common room playing random games and seeing if they could spot the giant squid through the window. It was ok, except for how Pansy kept giving Draco this _looks._

“Would you stop, Pansy?” Draco finally snapped.

The girl scowled at him.

“I’m not doing anything” She said.

“You bloody well know you are!” He pointed a finger at her accusingly “If you have something to say, just say it!”

“I’m just worried, Draco!” She yelled, letting her cards drop to the ground. “Is that a crime?!”

“Well, you don’t have to be.” Draco crossed his arms stubbornly. “ I told you I’m okay.”

“You clearly aren’t!” Pansy snapped back “Were you or were you not present at the shit show that was Lupin’s class?!”

“I said I was sorry!”

“That’s not the point and you know it!”

Draco got up abruptly, his own cards falling off his lap and into Greg’s. His face felt hot, meaning he was probably red.

“I’m going for a walk” He gritted out.

“Don’t you fucking dare, Malfoy!” Pansy screamed. She grabbed his arm, he forced her to let go. “Come back here!”

He ignored her screams. Draco had no idea to where he wanted to go, he just knew it needed to be far away from there so he walked. He walked and walked until he was no longer inside the castle.

“Fuck” He cursed and kicked a rock, watching as it bounced away.  

Draco walked towards the side of the castle, a place he knew was not visible from any of the towers. Hogwarts’ blind spot was what Blaise called it. It was a fitting name.

“Fuck” Draco repeated and let his body fall to the ground. He rested his back against the rock wall and hid his face on his hands.

When he lifted his head again, a few minutes later, a black dog was staring at him.

“You are not Hagrid’s” Draco told the animal. It, as expected, didn’t answer. Draco frowned. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around”

The dog barked and moved to stay at Draco’s side. The blond boy smiled a bit, moving his hand to carefully pet the animal.

“You feeling lonely, buddy?” He asked. The dog whined. “Got it”

The dog seemed relaxed enough, so Draco just kept petting it while wallowing in his self-pity. He imagined Harry would smack him for such actions, but he honestly didn’t care. The dog whined again, louder this time, successfully bringing Draco out of his thoughts.

“What is it, mate?” He asked and followed the dog’s stare way up to the cloudy sky above the forbidden forest. _Ah,_ He thought, _now the understood the creature’s fear._ Dementors were flying around the place. “Yeah, I don’t like them either” Draco admitted, bringing the dog closer to himself “But they’re here for a reason, you know. Sirius Black is on the loose.” Draco sighed “It’s weird to thing about him, since we’re family and all” The dog’s ears perked up at that. Draco eyed it curiously “Surprised, are you?”

The dog then got up. It walked a few feet away from Draco before turning its head to look back at the boy. Draco frowned.

“You want me to follow you?” Draco asked the dog who, again did not answer. However, it kept looking at Draco as if it was trying to say yes.

Draco briefly wondered if he should follow the random dog, but after a quick debate with himself he decided it couldn’t hurt to see what the poor animal wanted. He got up.

“Lead the way” He told the dog, and the animal did just that.

They walked together all the way to the other side of the castle, an area that was even more deserted than the one they had been before. If the dog was planning on killing Draco, he had chosen the right place, the blond joked to himself. The black animal led Draco inside a broken down shack, a place Draco assumed was Hagrid’s old house before he moved to a bigger and better one.

“Alright, we’re here” Draco told the dog, coughing a bit because of the dust on the place “What you wanted to show me?”

Draco had expected to see many things: dead animals, bones, another dog, a magical creature. Really, he made up countless scenarios in his head as to what the random black dog wanted to show him. What he did not expect, however, was for the animal to transform into the wanted criminal Sirius Black right before his eyes.

Draco’s first instinct was to scream, but Sirius big hand tapped his mouth before he could do so. _I’m going to die_ , Draco thought and not for the first time on that day. It was a very bad day.

“Don’t scream, I’m not going to hurt you” Sirius fucking Black told him in a voice that sounded way calmer and saner than Draco imagined a crazy murder’s voice would sound like. “I’ll take out my hand away, but you can’t scream, got it?” Draco nodded “Stay quiet”

Black removed his hand and Draco, true to his word, stayed quiet (more because he was practically paralyzed by fear than because he wanted to keep his promise to _Sirius fucking Black_ , but he didn’t scream anyway).

“So” Sirius started awkwardly. The wanted criminal was being _awkward._ What even was Draco’s life. “You said we were related, right?”

“Cousins” Draco blurted out. Sirius nodded.

“Oh, nice. Great. Hum,” Black smiled a bit “You have lots of questions, I believe”

“How did you guess?” Draco managed to say and almost smacked himself for trying to sass _Sirius Fucking Black._

To his surprise though, Sirius laughed. And not one of those maniacal, crazy murder laughs also, but a real, normal human one. The day just kept getting weirder.

“Yeah, you definitely have Black blood in you” Sirius said playfully, but his expression became serious not long after “Well, first of all you must know I’m not who people say I am”

“A crazy murder?” Draco asked tentatively. Sirius cringed.

“Y-yeah. That. I’m not a crazy murder”

“Okay.” Draco nodded. “Okay, good, that’s good. Yeah, it’s nice. Good to know.”

Sirius gave him a puzzled look.

“Are you alright, kid?” He asked.

“I don’t think so” Draco admitted and it was so, so weird that the first person he said the truth about how he was feeling to was Sirius Fucking Black. He really didn’t want to think about it. “Keep telling your story, though”

“Right” Sirius was still frowning at him, but he continued his story anyway.

That’s how Draco ended up discovering that a man named Peter Pettigrew was the true and real villain of the whole Sirius Black story. A man that was, apparently, very much alive and very much _inside_ freaking _Hogwarts_. By Salazar, why did that school like to attract so many crazy people to it. It was also there that Draco discovered Black was not only his cousin, he was also Harry’s _godfather._

“All this sounds like an overcomplicated novel” Draco commented after everything.

Sirius smiled at him.

“It truly does, doesn’t it?” He joked a bit before his expression tuned serious yet again “So? Will you help me?”

Draco knew he should say no. There was no way he could know for sure that Black was telling the truth and helping the man could very well end up in death. But there was…something about the man that didn’t scream crazy murderer. It definitely wasn’t his clothes or hair, those were not making a good job at marketing Sirius as a sane, good man. His eyes, though, his eyes did the trick. Those were not the eyes of a murderer.

“Yes” Draco told him “I’ll talk to Harry and we’ll see what we can do”

“Good. Thank you, Draco” Sirius smiled brightly at him before transforming back into a dog and running away.

Draco took some minutes to catch his breath before exiting the abandoned shack. Just as Draco thought things could not get weirder, the universe sent him another one of its big fuck you’s and had Harry Potter land right before Draco in a motherfucking hippogriff.

“Draco!” The boy shouted in excitement. “I wanted to talk to you before, but Lupin wanted everyone out, so I didn’t get the chance. I just flew in a hippogriff! His name is Buckbeak and he’s amazing!”

Draco only hummed, too tired to elaborate a real answer. Harry frowned at him.

“Are you alright, Draco?” He asked.

“I’ll be soon enough” He told Harry. At the distance, Draco saw Hagrid and a bunch of students walking towards where they were. “I need to talk to you later, ok? Meet me at the astronomy tower, Midnight sharp. Don’t be late.”

Draco didn’t wait for a response before he walked away. Back inside the castle, he didn’t stop until he reached his common room, where his friends still played cards.

“Save it” Draco told Pansy as soon as she opened his mouth. “I’m sorry for my outburst and I really need a nap so you can lecture me in about three hours”

As soon as Draco’s head hit the pillow, he was out.

The blond woke up about four hours later, with Blaise calling him for dinner. They didn’t discuss the day’s incidents and chose to just eat in silence. Draco could tell his friends were trying to give him space and he was grateful for it.

Back to the common room, they talked about random topics until each of them was yawning too much to speak. They left, one by one, until only Draco was left. At exactly 11:57, Draco got up and walked towards the window.

“ _What’sssss your purposssse?”_ The snake asked.

“Astronomy Tower” Draco answered.

Draco stepped through the portal faster than he did the other time he used it. The chill breeze of the night made him shiver a bit.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you appearing randomly through the wall” Harry commented with a smile, but Draco didn’t laugh. Harry frowned “What’s the matter, Draco?”

Draco then, told him what the matter was. Needless to say, Harry was even more shocked than he had been.

“My- My godfather?” He asked, perplexed. Draco nodded. “ So he wasn’t the one-”

“He wasn’t the one who killed those people, no”

“He wasn’t the one who betrayed my parents”

Draco froze.

“What?” He asked.

“Lupin told me a bit about Black” Harry said “They were friends in school. All four of them: Lupin, Black, Pettigrew and- and my father. My parents had Sirius be their secret keeper but he betrayed them and told their location to Voldemort” Harry let out a shaky breath “Or I guess Pettigrew did”

“I know it’s a lot to process” Draco said “But Sirius said Pettigrew is in the castle. We need to- to do something.”

Harry’s eyes lit up.

“I know exactly what we need.” He told Draco “Wait here.”

Harry was back after roughly nine minutes and from under the cloak he took out a piece of paper.

“What’s that?” Draco asked curiously.

“Just look” Harry told him “ _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_ ” The boy whispered to the paper, and the Marauder’s map came to life.

“Wow” Draco whispered, not for the first time impressed by Harry’s magic objects. “Why do you always get cool stuff like this?”

Harry grinned, shrugged and opened the map in its entirety on the ground so he and Draco could both look at it.

“Try to find Pettigrew’s dot” Harry told him.  

Draco nodded and began his search. His eyes passed by his and Harry’s still dots all the way up to the astronomy tower and by his friend’s equally as still dots on the Slytherin dungeon.

“Found it!” Harry practically screamed and when Draco followed his friend’s finger to where the dot was, he found Peter Pettigrew, the real murderer and the man responsible for Sirius’ wrong imprisonment, at the Gryffindor tower…sleeping with Weasley?!

“What the fuck” Draco questioned.

“|There was no man at Ron’s bed when I left” Harry said “How the hell is he there?”

“Maybe he’s under the bed?” Draco suggested.

“I think I would have noticed a full grown man under my mate’s bed, Draco.” Harry stared at the dot and scrubbed his finger over it, as if it would give sense to things. “I’m so confused”

“You tell me” Draco agreed.

They both looked up, trying to think, trying to come up with any explanation that would make sense of Peter Pettigrew sleeping next to freaking Weasley. It was not long before Harry got up abruptly.

“Oh my God!” He yelled.

“What?!” Draco yelled back.

“Pettigrew is Ron’s fucking rat!”

“What?”

“No time! Let’s go!”

Harry closed the map and grabbed the cloak with one hand and took Draco’s hand with the other. Not caring that they were out long past curfew, Harry dragged Draco through the Hogwarts corridors until they reached what Draco imagined was Professor Lupin’s office.

“What are we doing here, Harry?” Draco half shouted half whispered to his friend. Harry ignored him and started pounding on the door.

“Professor Lupin!” Harry called “Professor Lupin!”

The door opened to reveal a very tired looking Remus Lupin. He stared at the two students in front of him a frown.

“What are you doing here?” He asked.

“Sirius Black is innocent” Harry said quickly “Pettigrew is the real murderer and he’s inside the castle.”

All the traces of sleep vanished from Lupin’s face at those words. He gestured for them to come in and moved his wand around. Draco saw the tea pot fill itself with water.

“Tell me everything” Lupin asked them “From the beginning”

So they did. By the end of it, all three of them had steaming cups of tea in front of them and Lupin looked as if had seen a ghost.

“That’s quite the turn of events” He muttered to himself.

“We must act quickly!” Harry practically screamed “Pettigrew must be caught now”

“Yes, yes you are right” Lupin agreed “We must-” He cut himself off, eyes finding something at the window.

The boys turned to look at it and Draco felt his blood freeze. The dementors were moving, all together, all towards one point at the forbidden forest.

“That has to be Sirius” Harry said, fear evident in his voice. “We need to get him out of here”

“Buckbeak” Draco said “We put him in Buckbeak then go after Pettigrew”

Harry nodded.

“Sounds like a plan”

“Harry” Lupin called, eyes fixed on the window “You and I must go. My Patronus won’t be enough”

“I’ll get Buckbeak” Draco said, already getting up. “Come on, we don’t have much time”

Draco didn’t think he had ever run that fast before. He felt his legs burn under him, beg for him to stop, but he couldn’t. Buckbeak stayed close to Hagrid’s shack and he had to get the there as quick as possible if he wanted Sirius to survive. When he finally saw the creature, he was trying hard to breath.

“Bu-Buckbeak” Draco called, gasping for air. He bowed very briefly, remembering reading something about bowing to hippogriffs before approaching them. “Come with me”

The creature barely moved. Draco urged himself not to lose his patience. He bowed again.

“Please” He begged “We need your help”

Buckbeak, then, got up. Draco smiled at the creature and broke its chain with a quick spell. He approached him and touched its feathers. The creature bowed down for Draco to climb.

“Good boy” He told the hippogriff “Now let’s fly!”

Draco imagined than in any other mindset he would have appreciated more the fact he was flying in a hippogriff to save his cousin from dementors. The whole scenario sounded very Gryffindor-ish, but Draco had to admit it was still cool. From up there, he saw the Patronus light very clearly.

“Follow the light” He told his feathered friend, and he did just that.

“Draco!” Sirius Black was the one who greeted him, as Lupin and Harry were a bit too occupied with holding the dementors off.

Draco got off Buckbeak in one quick movement. He turned to Sirius.

“Go somewhere safe, far away from here.” He told his cousin “We’ll deal with Pettigrew. Go. Now.”

Sirius looked back.

“Harry-”

“We’ll be fine” Draco assured “And will like to have his godfather alive so they can properly meet when things aren’t as crazy as they are now. Go, Sirius”

Sirius went. Him flying away on Buckbeak was the last thing Draco remembered seeing before Harry’s Patronus stopped glowing and darkness and despair surrounded him.

When Draco opened his eyes again, it to see the familiar celling of Hogwarts’ infirmary and to feel the not so familiar sensation of Harry’s hand in his.

“Harry?” Draco rasped out, blinking a few times.

“Thank the skies you are awake” Was all Draco heard before being engulfed into a tight embrace. Draco tried to return the hug as well as he could.

“What happened?” He asked.  Harry sighed.

“There were too many dementors” The boy told him “My Patronus wasn’t strong enough and some of them got to us. Then Snape showed up to help.”

“Snape?” Draco asked.

“I was surprised too” Harry admitted. “He and Lupin managed to get them away from us, but one had fed on you for too long. How are you feeling?”

Draco thought about it for a second.

“Like shit” He told Harry, who chuckled.

“Understandable.”

“What about Pettigrew?” Draco asked. “Did you guys get him?”

Harry let out a frustrated sigh and Draco braced himself for the bad news.

“He ran away” Harry told him. “We don’t know how, but he’s no longer on the map”

“We’ll figure it out” Draco told Harry.

“Yeah” Harry smiled a bit “We will”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huuuuge thank you to everyone that reads this story. I really appreciate that you guys support me even though I only update once every 5 moon cycles. I love yooou.   
>  also this shit is soooo long (and it's still like i missed so much stuff!!! howwwww) i think i've broken a personal record. jesus christ. i miss my 200 worded chapter days.   
> also also do you think this should be tagged as slow burn or nah?   
> again, love you guys.

**Author's Note:**

> by the way, Harry did not become Gryffindor's seeker because Draco doesn't really give a fuck about him so he never teased Neville. When the boy fell down and broke his arm Draco just sighed, complained about Gryffindor stupidity and chatted with his friends until the teacher came back.   
> "Why didn't you write this part then?" beacause i'm lazy that's why.  
> anyway, next chapter will probably be longer i just really needed to put this out in the world already to see if it really does make sense or if this idea is just weird and stupid.   
> reviews are very appreciated!


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